Collapsible foot stool

ABSTRACT

A collapsible foot stool including a foot rest having a leg pivotally connected to one extremity thereof and a hook pivotally connected to the opposite extremity thereof. The leg and hook are pivotable between retracted and supporting positions whereby such hook and leg may be pivoted to their retracted positions for storage and may, alternately, be pivoted to respective supporting positions with the leg arranged upright under the foot rest and the free extremity of the hook projecting upwardly to hook over a supporting edge such as the edge of a bathroom fixture.

United States Patent 1 Barkhuff Nov. 6, 1973 COLLAPSIBLE FOOT STOOL [76]Inventor: Warren T. Barkhuff, 3634 Cedar, Pmna'y Exammer casm" NunbergLong Beach Calif. Attorney-Vern Schooley 22 Filed: July 18, 1972 57ABSTRACT [2H Appl' No" 272,732 A collapsible foot stool including a footrest having a leg pivotally connected to one extremity thereof and aU-S- Cl- 4 t hook pivotally conneced to the opposite extremity [5 ll.Cl. thereof" The leg and hook are pivotable between 're. of Searchtracted and supporting positions whereby u h hook 439 and leg may bepivoted to their retracted positions for storage and may, alternately,be pivoted to respective References Cited supporting positions with theleg arranged upright UNITED STATES PATENTS under the foot rest and thefree extremity of the hook 1,268,540 6/1918 Bayard 248/439 Projectingupwardly to hook Over a Supporting edge 1,301,203 4/1919 Wanner, Jr..297 421 Such asv the edge of a bathroom fixture- 3,l88,l57 6/1965 Rand312/248 3,026,160 3/1962 Bisp 248/439 9 Clam, 5 Drawmg Flglll'esPATENTEDNUV 6 I975 FIG.2

1 COLLAPSIBLE FOOT STOOL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of theinvention The present invention relates to a collapsible foot stoolwhich may be conveniently collapsed for storage.

2. Description of the Prior Art:

Prior art foot stools are generally of the rigid type and cannot becollapsed for storage. Further, most prior art foot stools are supportedat their opposite extremities by means of ground engaging-legs and failto include hooks for hooking over the edge of a supporting structure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The collapsible foot stool of present inventionis characterized by a foot rest supported on one end by means of apivotable leg and on its opposite extremity by means of a pivotable hookwhich may be hooked over a supporting structure, such leg and hook beingpivotable to collapsed positions adjacent the foot rest itself forstorage thereof.

The objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparentfrom a consideration of the'following detailed description when taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a foot stoolembodying the present invention; v

FIG. 2 is a side view of the foot stool shown in FIG. 1 and depicting itin its collapsed position;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the foot stool shown in FIG. 1 and depictingsuch stool supported on one leg;

FIG. 4 is a top 1, and

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The collapsible foot stool ofthe present invention includes, generally, a foot rest 11 supported onone end by means of a pivotable leg 13 and on its opposite extremity bymeans of a pivotable hook 15. Thus, the foot stool may be utilized asshown in FIG. 1 with the collapsible leg 13 in its vertical supportingposition and the hook 15 hooked over the rim of a toilet bowl 19 so theuser may sit on the toilet seat (not shown) and place his foot on therest 11 while performing tasks on his shoe or foot. When the foot stoolis to be stored, it may then be collapsed to its folded position shownin FIG. 2 for convenient storage.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, the foot rest 11 includes a horizontalplatform 21 having an elevated footreceivlng pad 23 supported thereoverby means of front and rear supports 25 and 27. The pad 23 is spacedabove the platform 21 to form a compartment 29 which receives anupwardly opening pie-shaped tray 31 which has a tab 30 projectingforwardly thereof for securement to the platform 21 by means of a pivotscrew 35 (FIG. 2). Thus, the rear extremity of the tray 31 is free topivot tothe opposite side of the pad 23 as shown in broken lines in FIG.4 so the user thereof may have convenient access to tools placed in suchtray.

view of the foot stool shown in FIG.

strip 39 (FIG. 2) which frictionally engages the underside of the freeextremity of such tray 31 to frictionally hold such tray in itsretracted positon beneath the foot rest 23 as shown in solid lines inFIG. 4.

The leg 13 is in the form of a tube which is formed to define a closedsquare, and the upper extremity thereof is pivotally secured to theunderside of the platform 21 by means of a pair of binge brackets 41. Agenerally U-shaped strut, generally designated 43, is pivotally attachedon its opposite ends to the sides of the leg 13 by means of pivot pins45 and 47 and, in its supporting position, angles upwardly andrearwardly beneath the platform 21 to engage a pair of transverselyspaced of a tube which is bent back on itself and hasthe oppositeextremities thereof bent to project inwardly toward one another todefine axially aligned hinged elements which are retained in hingebrackets 55 that secure such hook to the underside of the platform 21.

Referring to FIG. 1, the opposite sides 57 and 59 of the hook 15 arespaced apart a distance greater than the width of the platform 21 sosuch sides will accommodate the width of such platform therebetween. Theclosed end of such hook 15 is bent sideways to project horizontally toform respective weight bearing portions 61 and 63 and is then again bentback on itself to form portions 65 and 67 which extend downwardly insidethe rim of the bowl 19 to retain such hooks securely .in position. 1 1

As shownin FIG. 3, the book 15 can also act as a support leg and has theoppositeextremities of a U-shaped brace, generally designated'71,affixed int'ermediately to the opposite sides thereof by means of pivotpins 73. When the hook 15 is in its, supporting position, the brace 71angles upwardly and forwardly to engage re taining clips 75 which openrearwardly to receive the sition.

The brace 15 may then be rotated clockwise in the position shown in FIG.2 and hooked over the edge of the toilet bowl 19. The user may thenlower the lid of the toilet seat and may place, for example, his barefoot on the foot pad 23 for convenient access thereto in renderinghimself a pedicure. During the process, the user may pivot thefreeextremity of the tray 31 about its pivot screw 35 to either side of thefoot pad 23 as shown in broken lines in FIG. 4 so he may have convenientaccess to tools stored within such'tray.

When the operator has finished his task,-the tools may be returned tothe tray 31 and such tray pivoted to its retaining cavity 29, it beingrealized that the rubber strip 39 acts to hold such tray frictionally inplace beneath the foot pad 23 to cause such pad to act as a cover tohold the tools captive in the tray during storage.

The stool may then be collapsed by releasing the retaining clip 53 andretracting the brace 43 from the limit brackets 49 to collapse the leg13 upwardly against the underside of the platform 21. The hook 15 maythen be conveniently retracted by merely pivoting it counter-clockwise,as viewed in FIG. 1, about the right hand end of the platfrom 21 to theretracted position shown in FIG. 2. The entire unit may then beconveniently stored in a relatively compact area.

A particularly important feature of the stool of present invention isthe capability of such stool being converted to an entirely groundsupported stool as shown in FIG. 3. In this arrangement, the leg 13 ispivoted to the vertical position shown in FIG. 3 and the hook 15 isrotated 270 clockwise from the position shown in FIG. 2 to cause thesupport 63 to engage the ground or floor while the free end of the brace71 is retained against the limit brackets 75 thus providing stablesupport for the stool during use.

Form the foregoing it will be apparent that the collapsible foot stoolof present invention provides a particularly convenient means forsupporting ones foot while performing a pedicure or a shoe shiningoperation. By hooking the hook 15 over the edge of the toilet bowl 19and lowering the lid thereon, the stook occupies very little space andis held in an extremely stable condition when the operators weight isplaced on the lid of the stool. Further, the stool may be utilized as amore or less conventional foot stool as shown in FIG. 3 and may becollapsed to the relatively compact package shown in FIG. 2 for storage.

I claim:

1. A collapsible foot stool comprising:

a foot rest formed with first and second extremities;

a leg for supporting said first extremity:

first pivot means attaching one end of said leg to said first extremityof said foot rest for pivoting of said leg between a retracting and asupporting position;

a first brace pivotally connected on one end with the intermediateportion of said leg and engagable on its opposite end with the undersideof said foot rest when said leg is in its supporting position;

first limit means on the underside of said foot rest. and .engagable bysaid free end of said brace when said leg is in said supporting positionand said brace is in its bracing position;

a hanger projecting from said second extremity and formed on itsprojecting extremity with a turned back hook;

second pivot means attaching the end of said hanger opposite said hookto said second extremity of said foot rest for pivoting thereof betweena retracted position under said foot rest to a supporting positionprojecting upwardly from said foot rest whereby said leg and hook may beselectively pivoted to their retracted positions relative to said footrest for storage of said stool and said leg and hook may alternativelybe pivoted to their supporting positions, the free extremity of said legengaged with the floor to supportsaid first extremity of said foot restand the free extremity of said hook hooked over an edge of a support tosupport said second extremity. 2. A collapsible foot stool as set forthin claim 1 wherein:

said foot rest is formed with a tray-receiving compartment and includesa tray removably received in said compartment for receiving work tools.3. A collapsible foot stool as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said hanger is of the same length as said leg and is rotatable to aleg-support position, said foot stool further including: second limitmeans for limiting rotation of said hook whereby said book may berotated to a supporting position to cooperate with said first leg insupporting said foot stool from the ground. 4. A collapsible foot stoolas set forth in claim 1 that includes:

latch means carried from said foot rest and engageable with said bracefor locking said leg in its supporting position. 5. A collapsible footstool as set forth in claim I wherein:

said hanger includes rod means turned back on its self at its free endto form a closed end, having sides spaced apart a greater distance thanthe transverse width of said foot rest, said pivot means attaching saidhanger to the, underside of said foot rest whereby the free end of saidhanger is free to pivot between the. upper and lower sides of said footrest; said foot stool including second limit means for limiting rotationof said hanger to support said hanger in a position under said foot restto cooperate with said leg to support said, stool from the ground. 6. Acollapsible foot stool as set forth in claim 2 that includes:

pivot means pivotally connecting one end of said tray to said foot rest.7. A collapsible foot stool as set forth in claim 2 wherein:

said foot rest includes a foot pad disposed over said compartment andacting as a lid for retaining tools in said tray. 8. A collapsible footstool as set forth in claim 2 that includes:

retaining means for normally retaining .said tray in said compartment.9. A collapsible foot stool as set forth in claim 1 wherein: I

said second .limit means includes a brace pivotally attached on one endof said hanger and engageable on its opposite end with the underside ofsaid foot rest to support said brace in its bracing position.

I t i i

1. A collapsible foot stool comprising: a foot rest formed with firstand second extremities; a leg for supporting said first extremity: firstpivot means attaching one end of said leg to said first extremity ofsaid foot rest for pivoting of said leg between a retracting and asupporting position; a first brace pivotally connected on one end withthe intermediate portion of said leg and engagable on its opposite endwith the underside of said foot rest when said leg is in its supportingposition; first limit means on the underside of said foot rest andengagable by said free end of said brace when said leg is in saidsupporting position and said brace is in its bracing position; a hangerprojecting from said second extremity and formed on its projectingextremity with a turned back hook; second pivot means attaching the endof said hanger opposite said hook to said second extremity of said footrest for pivoting thereof between a retracted position under said footrest to a supporting position projecting upwardly from said foot restwhereby said leg and hook may be selectively pivoted to their retractedpositions relative to said foot rest for storage of said stool and saidleg and hook may alternatively be pivoted to their supporting positions,the free extremity of said leg engaged with the floor to support saidfirst extremity of said foot rest and the free extremity of said hookhooked over an edge of a support to support said second extremity.
 2. Acollapsible foot stool as set forth in claim 1 wherein: said foot restis formed with a tray-receiving compartment and includes a trayremovably received in said compartment for receiving work tools.
 3. Acollapsible foot stool as set forth in claim 1 wherein: said hanger isof the same length as said leg and is rotatable to a leg-supportposition, said foot stool further including: second limit means forlimiting rotation of said hook whereby said hook may be rotated to asupporting position to cooperate with said first leg in supporting saidfoot stool from the ground.
 4. A collapsible foot stool as set forth inclaim 1 that includes: latch means carried from said foot rest andengageable with said brace for locking said leg in its supportingposition.
 5. A collapsible foot stool as set forth in claim 1 wherein:said hanger includes rod means turned back on its self at its free endto form a closed end, having sides spaced apart a greater distance thanthe transverse width of said foot rest, said pivot means attaching saidhanger to the underside of said foot rest whereby the free end of saidhanger is free to pivot between the upper and lower sides of said footrest; said foot stool including second limit means for limiting rotationof said hanger to support said hanger in a position under said foot restto cooperate with said leg to support said stool from the ground.
 6. Acollapsible foot stool as set forth in claim 2 that includes: pivotmeans pivotally connecting one end of said tray to said foot rest.
 7. Acollapsible foot stool as set forth in claim 2 wherein: said foot restincludes a foot pad disposed over said compartment and acting as a lidfor retaining tools in said tray.
 8. A collapsible foot stool as setforth in claim 2 that includes: retaining means for normally retainingsaid tray in said compartment.
 9. A collapsible foot stool as set forthin claim 1 wherein: said second limit means includes a brace pivotallyattached on one end of said hanger and engageable on its opposite endwith the underside of said foot rest to support said brace in itsbracing position.